Fluid mixing valve construction and method of making the same

ABSTRACT

A fluid mixing valve construction having a housing provided with a pair of inlets respectively interconnected by a pair of valve seats to an outlet and with a valve member operated by a condition responsive unit for controlling the valve seats in accordance with the condition of fluid passing to the outlet and sensed by the condition responsive unit. A second condition responsive unit is operatively interconnected to the valve member to close one of the valve seats with the valve member if the first mentioned condition responsive unit does not close the one valve seat with the valve member even though the same is sensing a condition that would require the first mentioned condition responsive unit to close the one valve seat whereby the fluid mixing valve construction is substantially fail-safe.

This application is a divisional patent application of its copendingparent patent application, Ser. No. 736,763, filed Oct. 29, 1976, nowU.S. Pat. No. 4,082,219.

This invention relates to an improved fluid mixing valve constructionand to a method of making the same.

It is well known that fluid mixing valve constructions, such as hot andcold water mixing valve constructions, each has a housing means providedwith a pair of inlets respectively being adapted to be interconnected toa hot water source and a cold water source and respectively beinginterconnected by a pair of valve seats to an outlet of the mixing valveconstruction, the mixing valve construction having a movable valvemember means operated by condition responsive means for controlling thevalve seats in accordance with the condition of the fluid passing to theoutlet and sensed by the condition responsive means whereby in a watermixing valve construction, the water leaving the outlet is maintained ata predetermined temperature.

It is a feature of this invention to provide a fluid mixing valveconstruction of the above type wherein the same has means for closingoff one of the inlets should the condition responsive means thereof failwhereby in a water mixing valve construction, the inlet for the hotwater would be closed to prevent a scalding condition at the outletshould the main condition responsive means fail.

In particular, one embodiment of this invention provides a fluid mixingvalve construction having a housing means provided with a pair of inletswhich are respectively interconnected by a pair of valve seats to anoutlet and with valve member means operated by condition responsivemeans for controlling the valve seats in accordance with the conditionof the fluid passing through the outlet and sensed by the conditionresponsive means. A second condition responsive means is operativelyinterconnected to the valve member means to close one of the valve seatswith the valve member means if the first mentioned condition responsivemeans does not close the one valve seat with the valve member means eventhough the same is sensing a condition that would require the firstmentioned condition responsive means to close the one valve seat.

In one embodiment of this invention, the second condition responsivemeans comprises a condition responsive unit similar to the firstmentioned condition responsive unit of the fluid mixing valveconstruction, and in other embodiments of this invention, the secondcondition responsive means comprises a fusible metallic securing meansthat is rendered inoperative for its securing function when sensing thecondition that should normally cause the first-mentioned conditionresponsive means to close the one valve seat.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improvedfluid mixing valve construction having one or more of the novel featuresof this invention as set forth above or hereinafter shown or described.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved method ofmaking such a fluid mixing valve construction, the method of thisinvention having one or more of the novel features of this invention asset forth above or hereinafter shown or described.

Other objects, uses and advantages of this invention are apparent from areading of this description which proceeds with reference to theaccompanying drawings forming a part thereof and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an improved fluid mixing valveconstruction of this invention.

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 and illustrates the fluid mixingvalve construction of FIG. 1 in another operating condition thereof.

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 1 and illustrates the fluid mixingvalve construction of FIG. 1 in overrun condition thereof.

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 1 and illustrates the fluid mixingvalve construction of FIG. 1 in a fail-safe condition thereof.

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 1 and illustrates another embodiment ofthe fluid mixing valve construction of this invention.

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 5 and illustrates the fluid mixingvalve construction of FIG. 5 in a fail-safe condition thereof.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged, fragmentary cross-sectional view of part of thefluid mixing valve construction of FIG. 5.

While the various features of this invention are hereinafter describedand illustrated as being particularly adapted to provide a water mixingvalve construction, it is to be understood that the various features ofthis invention can be utilized singly or in any combination thereof toprovide a mixing valve construction for any desired fluid.

Therefore, this invention is not to be limited to only the embodimentsillustrated in the drawings, because the drawings are merely utilized toillustrate one of the wide variety of uses of this invention.

Referring now to FIGS. 1-4, one embodiment of the fluid mixing valveconstruction of this invention is generally indicated by the referencenumeral 10 and comprises a housing means 11 having a pair of inlets 12and 13 respectively being adapted to be interconnected to an outlet 14by a pair of valve seats 15 and 16 of the housing means 11, the valveseat 15 comprising a substantially flat end closure 17 of the housingmeans 11 while the valve seat 16 comprises a substantially flat annularsurface of the housing means 11 that surrounds the inlet 13.

A substantially cylindrical sleeve valve member 18 is movably mounted inthe housing means 11 and is provided with an end surface 19 having acentral opening 20 passing therethrough in such a manner that fluid fromthe inlet 12 is adapted to flow past the spacing between the flat valveseat surface 15 and the end 19 of the valve member 18 into the opening20 thereof and down through the sleeve valve member 18 to the outlet 14.However, when the sleeve valve member 18 has its end surface 19 placedagainst the valve seat surface 15 in the manner illustrated in FIGS. 3and 4, all fluid from the inlet 12 is completely blocked off by theclosed valve seat 15 so that fluid from the inlet 12 cannot pass to theoutlet 14 for a purpose hereinafter described.

A condition responsive unit that is generally indicated by the referencenumeral 21 is carried by the housing means 11 to control movement of thevalve member 18 as will be apparent hereinafter, the conditionresponsive unit 21 comprising a cylinder means 22 having a bracket 23fastened thereto and resting on a shoulder 24 of the housing means 11and normally being maintained against the shoulder means 24 by acompression spring 25 having one end 26 bearing against the valve seatmember 15 and the other end 27 thereof bearing against a spring retainer28 that engages against the end 29 of a piston member 30 of the pistonand cylinder unit 21. Such a condition responsive unit 21 is well knownin the art whereby further details of the structure of the unit 21 isnot necessary as it is well known that the piston 30 will extend out ofthe cylinder 22 upon an increase in sensed temperature above a certaintemperature and will retract into the cylinder 22 upon a decrease intemperature from a temperature above the certain temperature rating ofthe unit 21.

The sleeve valve member 18 has a spring retainer or part 31 disposedinside the same at the lower end 32 thereof and being secured to theinternal peripheral surface 33 thereof by a fusible metallic securingmeans 34 that will melt when sensing a certain temperature and therebyrender itself inoperative to secure the spring retaining part 31 to thevalve part 18 as will be apparent hereinafter.

For example, when the mixing valve construction 10 of this invention isutilized for mixing hot water at the inlet 12 with cold water at theinlet 13 to provide mixed water at a certain temperature at the outlet14, the fusible metallic securing means 34 can be selected to be of thetype that will melt at approximately 160° F. for a purpose hereinafterdescribed so that should the temperature of the mixed water passingthrough the valve member 18 to the outlet 14 exceed approximately 160°F., the securing solder-like material 34 will melt and thereby permitthe parts 31 and 18 to be separated from each other as will be apparenthereinafter, such fusible metallic securing means 34 can comprise NeyloNo. 158 sold by Ney Metals, Inc. of Brooklyn, N.Y.

The spring retainer 28 has its lower end 35 adapted to bear against aninwardly turned annular flange 36 of the spring retainer 31 and isnormally maintained against such flange 36 by the force of an overruncompression spring 37 that is disposed in compressed relation inside thesleeve valve member 18 by having one end 38 thereof bearing against theinside of the end 19 of the sleeve 18 and the other end 39 thereofbearing against the lower end 35 of the spring retainer 28 whereby thespring retainer 28 normally remains in the condition illustrated in FIG.1 during the up and down movement of the piston 30 relative to thecylinder 22 of the condition responsive unit 21 due to the expansion andcontraction of a wax charge or the like disposed in the cylinder 22 andsensing the temperature of the water passing to the outlet 14 in amanner well known in the art.

Thus, it can be seen that the fluid mixing valve construction 10 of thisinvention can be made by the method of this invention from a relativelyfew parts to operate in a unique manner now to be described.

Assuming that no fluid is passing through the water mixing valveconstruction 10 so that the temperature being sensed by the conditionresponsive means 21 is below the temperature rating of the unit 21,which in a typical example of the unit 21 is approximately 155° F., thecondition responsive unit 21 is in the condition illustrated in FIG. 1whereby the sleeve valve member 18 is in its greatest down position.Thus, the valve seat 15 is in its fully opened condition and the valveseat 16 for the inlet 13 is completely closed off by the sleeve valvemember 18 as an opening 40 in the side wall 45 of the sleeve valvemember 18 is disposed spaced from the inlet 13 as illustrated in FIG. 1.Accordingly, upon initially directing hot and cold fluid to the inlets12 and 13, only the hot fluid from the inlet 12 will pass through thefully opened valve seat 15 to the outlet 14 as the cold fluid at theinlet 13 is completely blocked by the sleeve valve member 18 closing thevalve seat 16.

However, as the temperature of the fluid in the outlet 14 increases toapproximately 155° F., the condition responsive means 21 senses theincreased temperature and causes the piston 30 to move upwardly andcarry the sleeve valve member 18 thereof to progressively close thevalve seat 15 while progressively opening the valve seat 16 to therebycause a mixing of the hot and cold fluid from the inlets 12 and 13before the same pass through the valve member 18 to the outlet 14 in anattempt to maintain the temperature of the fluid at the outlet 14 atapproximately 155° F.

Should the temperature of the water at the outlet 14 increase beyond155° F., the condition responsive unit 21 is so constructed and arrangedthat the same will cause a complete closing of the valve seat 15 by thesleeve valve member 18 in the manner illustrated in FIG. 3 to completelyclose off the hot water inlet 12 from the outlet 14 and fully open thevalve seat 16 for the cold water inlet 13 to thereby prevent thetemperature of the water leaving the outlet 14 from exceedingapproximately 155° F.

During the closing of the valve seat 15 in the manner illustrated inFIG. 3, should the condition responsive means 21 overrun and therebycause the piston 30 to move a distance upwardly relative to the cylinder22 beyond a distance necessary to close the end 19 of the sleeve valvemember 18 against the valve seat 16 as illustrated in FIG. 3, suchoverrun or overshoot of the condition responsive means 21 causes thespring retainer 28 to move upwardly with the piston 30 and lift its end35 off of the flange 36 of the secured spring retainer 31 and furthercompress the overrun spring 37 to take up the overshoot of the piston 30of the condition responsive unit 21 whereby no damage to theconstruction 10 can take place.

With the fluid mixing valve construction 10 in the condition illustratedin FIG. 3, it can be seen that only cold water now passes to the outlet14 as the hot water inlet 12 is completely closed off whereby thetemperature of the fluid in the outlet 14 now falls below the 155° F.limit so that the cooling of the unit 21 causes the piston 30 to retractinto the cylinder 22 and thereby permit the overrun spring 37 to movethe bracket 23 back against the flange 36 of the secured spring retainer31. Thus, the spring 25 can subsequently move the sleeve valve member 13downwardly away from the valve seat 15 to again provide for mixing ofthe hot and cold fluids in the manner previously described.

Thus, it can be seen that the valve member 18 under the control of thecondition responsive means 21 will tend to maintain the temperature ofthe fluids at the outlet 14 at approximately 155° F. if the temperatureof the hot water entering the inlet 12 is in excess of 155° F. whereby ascalding condition will be prevented at the outlet 14 by the conditionresponsive means 21.

However, should the condition responsive means 21 fail so that the samedoes not close the valve member 18 against the valve seat 15 should thetemperature of the fluid passing to the outlet 14 exceed 155° F.,whereby the temperature of the fluid passing to the outlet 14 increasesto approximately 160° F., the second condition responsive means 34 ofthe mixing valve construction 10 will now sense that the temperature ofthe water at the outlet 14 is 160° F. Thus, the fusible metallicsecuring means 34 will melt and thereby be rendered inoperative so thatthe part 31 becomes unsecured from the remainder of the sleeve valvemember 18. At this time, the force of the stored energy in thecompressed over-run spring 37 drives the valve member 18 upwardlyrelative to the unsecured spring retainer 31 in the manner illustratedin FIG. 4 to place the end 19 of the sleeve valve member 18 fullyagainst the valve seat 15 to close the valve seat 15 and, thus, closethe hot water inlet 12 from the outlet 14 and thereby prevent thetemperature of the water passing out of the outlet 14 from everexceeding approximately 160° F.

In order to prevent the fusible metallic sensing means 34 from beingprematurely activated by temporary over temperature conditions, thehousing means 11 has an annular groove 11' therein adjacent the sleeve18 and communicating with the cold water inlet 13 whereby the cold waterin the groove 11' prevents the fusible means 34 from immediately beingactivated when the valve construction temporarily moves to the positionof FIG. 1, the cold water in the groove 11' thus acting as a time lagfor the fusible means 34.

Therefore, it can be seen that the water mixing valve construction 10 ofthis invention is substantially fail-safe in that the first conditionresponsive unit 21 normally tends to maintain the temperature of thefluid passing out of the outlet 14 from exceeding a certainpredetermined temperature and the second condition responsive means 34of this invention acts as a back-up to the first condition responsivemeans 21 so that if the first condition responsive means 21 does notclose the valve member 18 against the valve seat 15 when the temperatureof the water at the outlet 14 reaches a certain temperature, the secondcondition responsive means 34 will, after the aforementioned time lag,cause the valve member 18 to close the valve seat 15 and thereby preventhot water from the inlet 12 from passing to the outlet 14 as illustratedin FIG. 4, the failure of the first condition responsive unit 21normally occurring due to constant cycling of the piston and internaldiaphragm member thereof.

While one form of a backup condition responsive means 34 is provided forthe water mixing valve construction 10 of FIGS. 1-4, it is to beunderstood that other backup condition responsive means can be utilizedin addition to or in lieu of the condition responsive means 34 to causethe valve member 18 to close the hot water inlet 12 should the firstcondition responsive means 21 fail.

For example, another fluid mixing valve construction of this inventionis generally indicated by the reference numeral 10A in FIGS. 5 and 6 andparts thereof similar to the fluid mixing valve construction 10 of FIGS.1-4 are indicated by like reference numerals followed by the referenceletter"A".

As illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6, the fluid mixing valve construction 10Aincludes another temperature responsive unit 41 similar to thetemperature responsive unit 21A but disposed upside down relativethereto so that the cylinder 42 of the unit 41 is in direct engagementagainst the cylinder 22A of the first unit 21A while the piston 43 ofthe backup unit 41 is disposed against a bridging member 44 of thehousing means 11A.

A push-on type of retainer 45 is carried by the cylinder 42 of the unit41 and prevents the cylinder 41 from retracting after the unit 41 isactivated. In particular, the retainer 45 has one-way lockingwasher-like inner periphery 46 that engages piston 43 of the unit 41 sothat when the unit 41 is activated by sensing a certain temperature thecylinder 42 extends relative to the piston 43 and carries the retainer45 upwardly in FIGS. 5-7 relative thereto. However, when the unit 41subsequently cools, the cylinder can not retract relative to the piston43 because the inner periphery 46 of the retainer 45 locks with thepiston 43 to prevent the cylinder 42 and piston 43 from coming towardeach other for a purpose hereinafter described.

In this manner, should the temperature responsive unit 21A fail to causethe valve member 18A to close the valve seat 15A when the temperature ofthe fluid in the outlet 14A exceeds a predetermined temperature andafter the aforementioned time lag has lapsed, the second temperatureresponsive unit 41 when sensing an unsafe temperature in the outlet 14A,such as the 160° F. previously mentioned, the piston 43 of the unit 41tends to extend and thereby causes the cylinder 42 to move upwardlyrelative to the bridge 44 and thereby carry upwardly therewith not onlythe first temperature responsive unit 21A, but also move the valvemember 18A upwardly therewith in opposition to the force of thecompression spring 25A to cause the valve member 18A to close againstthe valve seat 15A and thereby prevent the hot water inlet 12A frombeing interconnected to the outlet 14A as illustrated in FIG. 6.

Because the retainer 45 is now holding the unit 41 in the position ofFIG. 6, the valve construction 10A can only deliver cold water until theconstruction 10A is repaired by replacing the failed element 21A as wellas the one-time fail-safe element 41. This requirement prevents cyclingand controlling from the fail-safe element 41.

Also, the unit 41 does not cycle under ordinary conditions of the valveconstruction 10A because the temperature responsive media (wax) thereofhas little expansion at the normal operating temperature of the unit21A. However, at the fail-safe temperature, the media (wax) of the unit41 has a large expansion resulting in the closing of the hot water port12A as previously described. Thus, the temperature-movement conditionsof the valve construction 10A can be varied as required by selecting theproper wax formula for the unit 41 as well as for the unit 21A.

Thus, it can be seen that in the embodiment of the fluid mixing valveconstruction 10A of FIGS. 5 and 6, should the first temperatureresponsive unit 21A fail, the second temperature responsive unit 41Acauses the closing of the valve seat 15A to render the fluid mixingvalve construction 10A substantially fail-safe and thereby prevent ascalding condition at the outlet 14A in a manner similar to thecondition responsive means 34 of the fluid mixing valve construction 10of FIGS. 1-4.

Of course, the condition responsive means 34 can also be utilized in thevalve construction 10A as a third backup so that should the backuptemperature responsive means 41 also fail, the overrun spring 37A couldbe utilized to cause the valve member 18A to close the valve seat 15A inthe manner previously described for the fluid mixing valve construction10 of FIGS. 1-4.

Therefore, it can be seen that this invention not only provides animproved fluid mixing valve construction that is rendered substantiallyfail-safe, but also this invention provides an improved method of makingsuch a fluid mixing valve construction.

While the forms and methods of this invention now preferred have beenillustrated and described as required by the Patent Statute, it is to beunderstood that other forms and method steps can be utilized and stillfall within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. In a fluid mixing valve construction having ahousing means provided with a pair of inlets respectively interconnectedby a pair of valve seats to an outlet and with valve member meansoperated by condition responsive means for controlling said valve seatsin accordance with the condition of the fluid passing to said outlet andsensed by said condition responsive means, a second condition responsivemeans being operatively interconnected to said valve member means toclose one of said valve seats with said valve member means if thefirst-mentioned condition responsive means does not close the one valveseat with said valve member means even though the same is sensing acondition that would require the same to close said one valve seat, theimprovement wherein said second condition responsive means acts directlyon said first-mentioned condition responsive means to move saidfirst-mentioned condition responsive means and said valve member meansrelative to said housing means to close said one valve seat if saidfirst-mentioned condition responsive means does not close said one valveseat with said valve member means even though the same is sensing acondition that would require the same to close said one valve seat.
 2. Afluid mixing valve construction as set forth in claim 1 wherein saidcondition responsive means each comprises a piston and cylindertemperature responsive unit.
 3. In a method of making a fluid mixingvalve construction having a housing means provided with a pair of inletsrespectively interconnected by a pair of valve seats to an outlet andwith valve member means operated by condition responsive means forcontrolling said valve seats in accordance with the condition of thefluid passing to said outlet and sensed by said condition responsivemeans, a second condition responsive means being operativelyinterconnected to said valve member means to close one of said valveseats with said valve member means if the first-mentioned conditionresponsive means does not close the one valve seat with said valvemember means even though the same is sensing a condition that couldrequire the same to close said one valve seat, the improvementcomprising the step of disposing said second condition responsive meansto act directly on said first-mentioned condition responsive means tomove said first-mentioned condition responsive means and said valvemember means relative to said housing means to close said one valve seatif said first-mentioned condition responsive means does not close saidone valve seat with said valve member means even though the same issensing a condition that would require the same to close said one valveseat.
 4. A method of making a fluid mixing valve construction as setforth in claim 3 and including the step of forming each of saidcondition responsive means from a piston and cylinder temperatureresponsive unit.